COVID-19 takes toll on Saints roster

The latest surge of COVID-19 continues to ravage rosters across the professional sports world, putting the Saints in a tough situation for week 16.

Last week, Head Coach Sean Payton missed the game against the Bucs after testing positive and Defensive Coordinator Dennis Allen stepped in as interim head coach.

Earlier this week, tight ends Adam Trautman and Juwan Johnson were placed on reserve-COVID list.

Today, the Saints announced nine more additions to the list this afternoon.

Safeties Malcolm Jenkins and Jeff Heath, offensive lineman Jordan Mills and James Carpenter, defensive tackle Christian Ringo, defensive end Jalyn Holmes, and linebacker Kaden Elliss were all placed on the COVID list.

Additionally, quarterbacks Taysom Hill and Trevor Siemian both tested positive, leaving 2021 fourth round draft pick Ian Book as the lone available quarterback.

New Orleans is now preparing Book for what will likely be the rookie’s NFL debut Monday night against the Dolphins.

The Saints did not practice today after Allen canceled the team’s walk-through. No one on the team has been at the facility since Wednesday.

Saints kicker Brett Maher said, “There’s a ton of distractions obviously that everyone is dealing with. And I’m no different with those and having to figure out how to navigate and making sure I can get all my prep work in and prepared for Monday night. I’m confident that myself and everyone else will be able to do that. That’s kinda the name of the job that we’re in is you’ve got to be able to adapt, adjust and still be able to perform whenever you’re called on.”

Since the beginning of last week, it is reported that there are 320 players across the league that have tested positive for COVID-19 with the majority have little or no symptoms.